Looking to hit the East Coast of Australia this year? Sam has just come back from her year abroad in Aus... so here are her top tips for the EC!

1) Sailing on Whitsundays – This was by far the highlight of my whole trip! After boarding our groups own private yacht and sailing into the stunning clear blue sea, we got to spend the afternoon swimming and snorkelling. We saw hundreds of different fish and sea life and the views were breath-taking. We slept on board overnight and spent the...

Brits have a nasty habit of upping the anti and going all ‘God Save The Queen’ on the world when they’re abroad – we’ve all seen it (and shuddered at it). Some of us do it by accident (‘erm excuse me, where’s the nearest rubbish pub?’) and some of us are just darn right obnoxious (‘BUT WHY don’t they speak any English? Gahhhh’).

Things get even worse when a backpack gets thrown into the mix… so avoid being a typical British backpack wanker by following these simple instructions:

Hot on the tail of Facebook and Twitter as social media’s next BIGBIGBIG thing, Instagram has now hit the 200 million users mark. Not surprising really, seeing as though it’s the best thing since sliced bread!

If you get a bit snap happy when you’re away and you want to document your adventures – get Instagram. Simple. Reasons why?

You can easily update friends and family with what you’re doing, when you're doing it. Hearing about it over email or text is one thing, but actually seeing it is a...

Want to give your CV a massive boost, but not sure how? Travelling can prove to be a game changer on your resume, especially if you make an extra special effort to do something which will make you stand out from the crowd. Talking points in interviews – check, once in a lifetime experiences – check… 'check' out how you can become of those lucky travelers below:

Volunteering is a fantastic way to get experience – not only as you'll be showing your dedication to helping a less fortunate...

We’ve all been there, done that and got the t-shirt - you want to go away, but you have absolutely no idea where you actually want to go. The worst bit is most of us want to tick off the whole world, which then causes the dilemma of where you start it all off. Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Follow our guide below and you’ll be bracing yourself for your first big adventure in no time:

1) Grab a Map, now: The best place to start is by printing off a world map and highlighting each country...

It's official: The Thailand Experience is legendary within the Real Gap Experience camp. It's received 9/10 stars from over 260 past travellers, the dates for the summer are already packed out and frankly - we don't think it's hard to see why. It's BIG news and to show the rest of you what it's all about we thought we'd run through our biggest finds, surprises and share our secret tips with you about one of our favourite trips. Watch out gang, give it five minutes and we're sure you'll be...

Hey everyone! We are nearing the end of our amazing trip now, finishing off in the Big Apple. Looking back over our travels we have met hundreds of people and made some awesomee freinds. During the trip we have travelled as a pair, as a large group and also individually. If you are planning your own RTW trip and are wondering which is the best option then heres a blog that might help you out.

We predominatenly travelled as a pair for the 9 months so we decided which cities, hostels,...

Here at Real Gap Experience we love seeing your travel dreams come true, and last year Joel won a competition on Facebook that'd send him to South Africa to our Big 5 project! Check out how he got on with this daily diary...

Day 1 - Hiya everyone! On day 1 we arrived in Port Elizabeth, where I met two girls who had been on same flight as me - and we were dropped off at the lodge (we saw Zebra and Springbok on the way in!). Unfortunately some other travellers were leaving as their time was up...

For the last ten weeks, wildlife enthuasiast Nicky Lawrence has spent time at our Big 5 reserve in South Africa, participating on our Game Ranger Internship (with a splash of volunteering thrown in for good measure). Check out her blog post on her experience below!

Warning, the old cliché of "the best experience of my life" applies here! I spent 10 weeks at the game reserve in South Africa and it didn't disappoint.The internship itself is hard work, I cannot lie about that, its a lot of...